Week 2

When I walked into my supermarket a few weeks back, the first thing I saw inside the door was a display of Pumpkin Spice Oreos. What??? I LOVE Autumn and all things pumpkin. I immediately decided to focus this week's shoot on a seasonal product for my portfolio. I grabbed a package of Oreos and headed to the milk aisle. I also put some candy corn and a few small pumpkins in my cart, and on my way out, I also picked up something for dinner, which is why I went to the store in the first place.

Having been through 52 weeks of this project already, I've found I've gotten a lot quicker with my light set up, particularly when a shiny surface is involved. This has given me time to work more on alternate compositions. My first attempt with the oreos and milk was shooting the scene on a white background. I liked it, but the glass carafe got lost in the background and it lacked real punch.

I decided to cover the light on the backdrop with an orange gel to see what that would do. I loved the visual impact of the gelled background, but the milk bottle started to show undesired reflections on the front. At that point, I turned off the studio lights and reached out to some fellow photographers to get their input.

With their suggestions in hand, I worked on the distracting reflections in the milk bottle the following night and got to the shot in my mind.

One of the suggestions from the photographers I reached out to was to include a shot of the milk being poured from the carafe into the glass. This took a few attempts to ensure my pouring hand wasn't in the shot, and to make sure the pour looked good. I also had to fill in the gaps left by the carafe not sitting on the table. I added some more Oreos to the scene to round it out. This is the final result:

Next week's shoot is another product shot. The directions were to shoot a still life which includes a flower in the shot. I'm thinking champagne and roses...